​When I was asked to write a blog about why I became involved in #whywedoresearch, I jumped at the chance!

I have young onset dementia and when I was diagnosed no clinician on my journey offered me the chance to be involved in research. I desperately wanted to be involved in research but found it hard to navigate the internet. I had to go searching on my own and offer myself up for involvement. I was amazed how few people were involved in research……I was very new to Twitter when I saw these funny # symbols and didn’t have a clue what they meant. So I watched and waited until eventually the mist cleared and I understood the # capabilities😊 . What a wonderful idea – to promote the ‘why’ part of research.

I then saw a tweet asking for ambassadors to promote the brilliant cause. As with everything my hand went up and before I knew it I had some new best buddies.

My take on #why? is:Without research the NHS can’t move forward and without willing volunteers researchers can’t test and prove their theories. We have to have more than ‘hoping and wishing’ you don’t get dementia but that can only be achieve through research. I want to rid my daughters of the inevitability that a diagnosis of dementia currently brings and that can only be achieved through research – that’s my #why and I’m sticking to it!

I promote patient participation at every opportunity because not only does it make you feel valued, but being valued improves your well being and that must save the NHS money……. Clinicians should embrace the advantages of research participation and actively encourage patient involvement.

Introduction to our guest blogs

We are delighted to host guest blogs from our fantastic followers. Blogs come from patients, members of the public & from healthcare professionals. They focus on why people are involved in research, what it means to them and what they would like to see happen in the future of research.

Occasionally, we also host 'Spotlight on...' months - in these months you will see a blog per week from patients, public and staff centred around a specific topic / illness / disease area. We also host a tweetchat on the topic during the same month. Follow #whywedoresearch on twitter to keep up to date with these.

If you would like to guest blog for us, please contact @ClaireW_UK or @keeling_michael via twitter